The Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table will be inducting seven new members into its Hall of Fame on Monday, Sept. 16. The Induction Class of 2024 includes five athletes, a coach and a special achievement honoree.
This is the sixth in a series of stories about this year’s inductees.
To purchase tickets to the Hall of Fame event at the Cabrillo Pavillion, click here.
The shot put ring was like a stage when Stamatia Scarvelis competed in a track & field meet for Dos Pueblos High.
Stamatia turned the shot put into a marquee event at high school meets. Records fell nearly every time she stepped into the ring.
She rewrote the Dos Pueblos record several times and is the school’s most decorated track and field athlete ever. Her mark of 53 feet, 3.50 inches in the shot put was No. 2 in the nation for high schoolers in 2014 and her discus throw of 172-7 was No. 1.
She won three straight CIF State Championships in the shot put (2012,13,14) — the first California female to accomplish that feat — and captured a state title in the discus in 2014.
As a teenager, she won the USA Track and Field Junior National Championships and the Pan American Games in the shot put.
“She is obviously one of the most talented athletes in the country, and competing at that level comes with tremendous amounts of stress and attention to detail,” Wiggins Roth told Presidio Sports in 2014. “She deals with that stress incredibly well, always demonstrating grace, composure and a smile.
“I think it is her family that has given her the confidence to be so competitive and carefree at the same time.”
She followed older brothers Steven and Nicholas into track & field and competed in multiple events before focusing solely on the throwing events.
Stamatia’s accomplishments earned her a scholarship to UCLA. She took a red-shirt year as a true freshman and competed for the Bruins in 2016 in the shot put, discus and hammer throw. She remains in the program’s top 12 all-time in the hammer, shot put and discus.
She transferred to Tennessee and became a throwing sensation there. In her first year, she set the school record in the weight throw and placed third in the SEC and 10th at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
She won the SEC outdoors hammer title in 2018, becoming Tennessee’s first-ever female throws champion. She placed third at the NCAA Championships with a school record of 226-8, earning first-team All-American honors.
Stamatia finished her collegiate career by repeating as SEC outdoor hammer champion and winning the weight throw at the SEC Indoor Championships at 78-11.25, the No. 3 mark in conference history.
At the SEC Outdoor Championships, she scored 23 points for the Vols and was presented with the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy. She also earned first-team All-American honors.
Stamatia also has made her mark in international track and field while competing for Greece since 2016 — she has Greek citizenship as her grandparents were born in the country.
She’s won eight Greek national titles in the hammer and shot and a pair of gold medals in the hammer at the Balkan Games.
She qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the hammer and placed ninth in Group B at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Her personal best of 71.33 meters (234-02) in the hammer at the 2019 Balkan Games has her ranked second all-time among Greek female throwers.
Stamatia is the daughter of George and Alexandra Scarvelis. Her brothers Nicholas and Steven both competed at NCAA Division 1 track & field programs. Nicholas competed for Greece at the 2016 Olympics.
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